POLISH FILMS AWARDED AT 60TH KRAKOW FILM FESTIVAL

On Saturday, June 6, the first Polish online film festival ended with an awards gala, during which we met the winners of all festival competitions. The event was broadcast live on the Internet, hosted by Maciej Stuhr, and the large audience gathered in front of computer screens proved that a pandemic does not prevent true love of cinema and the festival! Among them, there were Polish films.

“The Whale From Lorino” directed by Maciej Cuske (Poland) who won three awards was the undisputed winner of the Festival. The film won the Silver Horn for the director of a film with high artistic value, the Award of the President of the Polish Filmmakers Association for editing for Katarzyna Orzechowska and the Award for the best producer of Polish short and documentary films funded by the Polish Producers Alliance for Mikołaj Pokromski and Aldona Pokromska.

In the justification of the Jury of the international documentary film competition headed by Łukasz Żal we read: “The Whale From Lorino” receives the Silver Horn for the depth experience in which metaphorical images and sound allow us to immerse ourselves in the reality of an indigenous Siberian village located in a remote and forgotten corner of Russia. (…) this unique film presents the cultural relationship between man and the environment in a beautiful way and paradoxically shows us that men who hunt endangered whales to survive also belong to the genre on the verge of extinction.

In the International Short Film Competition jury gave a Special Mention for Dad You’ve Never Had directed by Dominika Łapka. And Jury gave the Special Mention to the film "I Need the Handshakes" directed by Andriej Kuciła.

In the Polish Grand Prix competition and the Golden Hobby-Horse statuette, Tomasz Wolski was awarded for the film “An Ordinary Country”. The jury, chaired by Magdalena Łazarkiewicz, justifies: For the execution excellence of the film, which – avoiding the journalism trap – shows how imperceptibly evil creeps into everyday life.

The best documentary film of the Polish competition was “Sonny”, whose director, Paweł Chorzępa received the Silver Hobby-Horse “for a moving story about the relationship of a son and father, shown with extreme visual sensitivity.” Daria Kopiec was awarded the Silver Hobby-Horse for the best Polish animated film – “Your Own Bullshit”, and Damian Kocur for the short feature “Beyond Is The Day”.

Maciej Szumowski Award for remarkable social awareness was presented to Aleksandra Potoczek for "xABo: Father Boniecki"

and the Best Cinematography Award under the patronage of the Polish Society of Cinematographers funded by Coloroffon Film and Naima Film  to Kamil Małecki for Last Days of Summer. Jury gave also a few special mentions: for documentary film – "Pollywood" directed by Paweł Ferdek,  for animated film – "I’m Here" directed by Julia Orlik, for feature film – Noamia directed by Antonio Galdamez and for acting – Julia Kuzka, actress of  Last Days of Summer  by Klaudia Kęska and Alice and the Frog by Olga Bołądź.